Landscape Architecture

The Landscape Architecture Program in the School of Design has an established international reputation as one of North America’s leading and highly-ranked programs. The program offers three tracks to an LAAB accredited Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) degree: a 3-year first-professional track, an advanced placement track, and a one year plus thesis track. PhD studies in landscape architecture are offered through the Architecture Design Research (ADR) PhD in the School of Architecture and coordinated by the Landscape Architecture Program. Non-degree students from other universities are invited to study with us for one or two semesters.

Virginia Tech’s accredited Master of Landscape Architecture degree combines design and design-thinking, creative invention and problem-solving, natural and human sciences, and community collaboration. Students may also pursue simultaneous masters degrees in Natural Resources (MNR) or Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) as well as graduate certificates offered across the university.

Program faculty guide students as they develop and expand greater understandings of the complex interrelationships between people and the physical environment. Students explore more sustainable and resilient futures through planning, designing, and managing landscapes that integrate natural processes, public and individual needs, and societal vision. Students often engage with communities across the region to address real issues on real sites.

Degree applicants with undergraduate qualifications in any discipline are considered for the three-year Master of Landscape Architecture track. The first-professional degree’s studio-based curriculum integrates design and planning, landscape sciences and technologies, ecology, and human/environment interaction. Applicants with a previous degree in landscape architecture, architecture or an allied area may be admitted with advanced standing to the 2-year plus track, an option that encourages students to develop an individualized program of study building upon the program’s areas of expertise in community engagement, place-making, ecological design and resiliency, and design learning. Advanced standing is based upon portfolio and transcript reviews for course content waivers. All students must complete a minimum of 50 credit hours for the MLA degree.

Our MLA students and graduates routinely find work in design and planning firms, government and municipal agencies, and community and non-profit organizations across the United States and abroad. The three tracks to a Masters in Landscape Architecture are rigorous and intensive studies integrating students’ creativity, new and developing knowledge, and problem-solving skills as they address contemporary design and planning challenges in the built environment. These challenges include: climate change; healthy living and empathetic design; urbanization; just and livable cities; re-imagining water, food, energy and transportation systems; green infrastructure; remediation of spoiled and disturbed sites; and preservation and conservation of critical natural and cultural resources.